The city of St. Petersburg in Florida is set to become a little bit greener this upcoming September. Dunkin’ Donuts, a coffee and baked goods chain, is set to open its first LEED certified store. The franchise hopes this location will serve as a prototype for its future stores. Elements of Dunkin’ Donuts first green building will include designated recycling areas, water efficient plumbing, and energy efficient lighting.

Overall this is great news. For a chain, to start constructing LEED buildings and improve its current stores is a good thing all around. Hopefully Dunkin’ Donuts continues its efforts and not just use this one store as a “green marketing” strategy.

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Taking inspiration from a previous blog posting, that showed how frozen food advertisements do not look anything like their glossy box covers, I decided to compare advertisements for fast food items to how they really look like. I stopped by McDonalds the other day and ordered the basic quarterpounder with cheese minus the pickles.

as advertised

in real life

What do you think? It’s definitely not as dramatic as the difference between frozen food and their ads. I’m actually surprised that it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Watch out for more of these this summer, I’ll be posting more soon.

What sort of benefits can you get from your friends? Companionship? Networking? Money? If you treat fiber as one of your good friends, you can get far more than that. According to Dr. Mike Roizen, co-author of You: The Owners Manual and founder of Real Age.com, fiber not only lessens the risk of obesity, but it also helps to reduce constipation.

Fiber can come in two varieties: insoluble and soluble. According to Dr. Charlene Prather, a gastroenterologist at the St. Louis University School of Medicine, insoluble fiber helps to relieve constipation by pushing waste material rapidly through your system, while soluble fiber benefits the body as it reduces the risk of heart disease, lowers cholesterol, and is associated with reversing obesity.

Insoluble fiber is found in the indigestible parts of plants that we eat — grain husks, skins of fruits and vegetables, brown rice, the exterior of beans, peas and berries. Soluble fiber turns up generally in the pulp of fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Rather than using stomach acids and enzymes to digest soluble fiber, your body uses bacteria causing the digestion of fiber to be slower. The slower digestive process keeps food in the stomach longer and deters one’s hunger too. At the same time drinking lots of water while consuming fiber can make the digestive process even slower.

I personally see the benefits of fiber, however, I often get so busy with everyday activities that I’m not always able to prepare my own meals that are rich in fiber. I have found that fiber supplements really come in handy. Recently I have been using Metamucil’s Instant Fiber Supplement in the orange flavor. Its low in calories, sugar-free, and the taste is not that bad. Also, it’s convenient, easy, and time-saving! However, it’s probably best to get your fiber from your regular daily meals— this way you can enjoy feel good food and treat fiber like a good friend!

How much soda and fruit juice do you consume everyday?

According to Dr. Y. Claire Wang of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, kids 2-19 years old consume 242 calories a day from sweetened beverages during the years 1988-1994 and 270 calories daily in 1999-2004. Overall intake of sugar sweetened beverages increased from 204 to 224 calories a day while fruit juice intake rose from 38 to 48 calories per day. The largest increase in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage was 20 percent by 6 to 11year olds which also equals to a 20 percent increase of the age group’s calorie intake!

Some people may question this. Are sugar beverages really bad for one’s health? When asked this question, board certified nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS answers “Yes. Simple, unequivocal answer, yes. Yup. Affirmative”. The main reason for the Jonny’s affirmative yes is the high fructose corn syrup often found in sugar beverages. High fructose corn syrup adds little nutrition and lots of calories to food, and it is also one of the most common sweeteners used in beverages because of its low cost.

While sugar beverages are not the healthiest of items, a increase in the consumption of fruit juice is not a problem at all. According to Dr. Theresa A. Nicklas of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and her team, fruit juice is a healthy choice as long as it does not contain added sugars because an individual can consume more fruit and increase his or her intake of various nutrients including vitamin C, foliate and potassium.

Being a person with a huge sweet tooth, I have found that fruit juice without the added sugar is definitely a better choice than a typical sugary beverage. Another alternative are all natural sodas like Hansen’s or the ones Amanda’s will be serving as these freshly made sodas will not have any corn syrup.

Health Food Hut, Inc. is an upcoming healthy and green quick-service restaurant. According to QSRmagazine.com, founder James M. Sleighter has signed a deal with 1 Smart Duck Management Group, LLC to eventually construct 182 restaurants based on 1 Smart Duck’s iBuilding concept.

The iBuilding is an “environmentally friendly, technology-based, media driven concept” designed for quick service restaurants. The building includes a wind and sun energy converter for electricity, the latest water retention devices, and remote-controlled lighting. The first building is set to be constructed Spring 2008 in Denver, Colorado with hopes of  attracting more developers.

 In addition to being green, Health Food Hut will serve fresh organic dishes for lunch and dinner. Founder Sleighter was inspired when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholestoral back in 2004. Many of the restaurant’s dishes will resemble the non-processed, low fat meals Sleighter himself consumed and were part of his pH-based weight loss and diet program. In fact, this menu plan helped Sleighter gain control of his health.

 And yet I’m curious to know how this restaurant will hold up. Dishes such as Bison burger, Mahi Mahi macadamia and coconut crusted filet sandwich, and raw key lime pie are not dishes many would call “quick”. Another is pricing. Currently one smoothie of three fruits costs $5.75 and has the option of “Super Greens” for an additional $2.00. Furthermore since this news release and the signing of the agreement, there still is not an operating location to be found.

 Either way, another restaurant with feel good fast food goals in mind is something positive and a step in the right direction.